


Fluffy Ever After

by BloodMagic



Series: Dragon Age: Fluff [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Solavellan mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 17:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3700418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodMagic/pseuds/BloodMagic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Post-canon, Cullen/Narvi Lavellan, do I still need to say these things or...)<br/>Okay y'all, here's the thing: I can't deal with making them angst over /everything/ ALL the time so here have some adorable fluffy fluff trash with extra fluff (and a side of off-the-page smut but shhhhhh, we're here for the fluff).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fluffy Ever After

Narvi's eyes opened abruptly. Beside her, Cullen was talking in his sleep again. No doubt that was what woke her up. That was how she woke up most mornings.

If he was talking out loud, that meant his nightmares were about to hit rock bottom. He would awaken on his own within a couple of minutes.

Narvi had learned not to wake him prematurely, no matter how horrible she felt for letting him suffer in his dreams. If she woke him up early, he would be disoriented and panicked; if he woke himself, he would still be in a panic but he would recover faster. That was just how it was for him.

Cullen's arm jerked upward and he made an inhuman sound like a growl. He awoke with a gasp a moment later, looked about wildly like a terrified animal. In the greyish early morning light, his eyes met Narvi's and he held her gaze. His brow softened as he recognized where he was and who was beside him. She gently laid one hand on his chest.

“I woke you up again, didn't I?” Cullen groaned. “I'm sorry, I—”

“Shh, it's okay,” Narvi reassured him. “You don't need to apologize.” She brought her hand up to his face and traced her fingers along his ear.

“I don't want to worry you,” he protested even as he leaned into her hand.

“For the privilege of going to bed with you every night? A little worry in the morning isn't such a terrible price to pay.” She smiled and shifted her weight until she was in a comfortable position to kiss him. He accepted her lips quite readily, and was reluctant to let her pull away afterward. Cullen didn't like to admit it because he didn't want her to feel unnecessarily pressured, but sleeping next to her _had_ proved helpful in alleviating his nightmares. He still had bad dreams almost every night, but when he woke up from them and saw her first thing, it gave him comfort. Her gentle kisses and caresses chased the nightmares and the bad memories away; her scent close at hand and her skin against his made it easier for him to remember that where he was now was neither Kirkwall nor Kinloch.

Now his fingers were tangled up in hers and he felt safe, cherished. He felt complete.

He never wanted to lose any of these feelings. After all this time he finally understood what it was like to love and be loved. The thought of ever losing her was as distressing as his nightmares.

“What's on your Inquisitor agenda for today?” he asked from where he lay against her pillows. She had to pause to think about it.

“I think I have a meeting with the Marquis duSomething-or-Other in a few hours, but that's the only thing I can think of. I guess it depends on what's in the next report from Suledin.”

“If you're not busy this afternoon, I have something I need to do in Ferelden,” Cullen was saying as he played with her fingers. “I'd like it if you would come with me.”

“Yeah, I think I can make that happen. Is something the matter?”

“No, no. I'll explain it properly when we get there,” he assured her.

“Will there be any giant spiders involved?” she asked. Her voice was dead serious. 

“Maker, I hope not!” he looked and sounded scandalized at the suggestion. “Look, you'll see when we get there, so no more questions for now.”

“Now you've just got me even more curious—” Narvi began to protest, but the rest of her thought was cut off under Cullen's lips when he drove one hand into her hair and pulled her down to him. The other hand trailed considerably lower and got to work between her legs with practiced, confident strokes. “You win,” she mumbled against his mouth, and readjusted herself, her legs in particular, to suit the new development.

* * *

 

Hours later, Narvi was still walking a little funny as she made her way down to the stables to meet Cullen for their foray into Ferelden. She had passed off her condition as a temporary limp, said she was recovering from a recent adventure in the field. Most people either bought her story wholesale or were at least polite enough not to say anything out loud against her. Leliana wasn't fooled for a moment. Nothing got past her. She had eyed Narvi with a knowing smirk when they met that morning in the War Room.

“Are you ready?” Cullen asked when their horses were saddled. Narvi looked at her mount with dread. The prospect of hours on horseback, of trotting in particular, had her muscles aching all over again. She steeled her nerves, put on a smile, and mounted up.

“It's not too far out,” Cullen assured her, as if he were reading her mind. “We should be out and back before nightfall.”

“Not if we never leave,” she teased.

“Just so,” he agreed, and mounted his own horse. They rode out side by side, heedless of the rumors that flew at their backs.

After some indeterminate amount of time on the road, Cullen steered them off the beaten path and into a ravine between the foothills. Narvi could smell a body of water nearby, but she couldn't be sure if it was a river or a lake.

It turned out to be something in between 'large pond' and 'small lake'. The hillsides around it were bright green with fresh grass and brush in the afternoon sun. They dismounted and let their horses graze on those grasses, while Cullen led Narvi closer to the water's edge.

She stopped suddenly, breathless as she looked between him and the pond. A terrified panic overtook her and she turned away from him, away from the water, closed her eyes and tried to block out the memory that had assaulted her senses. A long time ago another lover had taken her to a beautiful glade not unlike this one, had declared his love for her, had _left_ her, cold and alone by the quiet, dark water.

“Narvi? Are you alright?” she heard Cullen ask. His hands were on her upper arms.

This was different, she insisted to herself. This wasn't Solas all over again. It couldn't be.

“Narvi, look at me,” she heard Cullen plead. She complied, opened her eyes and met his wondering stare.

_Safe and solid, protecting and proud_ . Those were Cole's words to her about Cullen, once upon a time. They described him perfectly. They always had.

_Safe._ He wasn't going to leave her. He wouldn't. Would he?

“What's the matter?” he asked quietly, gently. One of his gloved hands brushed her hair back behind her ear.

“This isn't the end, is it?” she blurted out.

He looked stunned, rocked back on his heels. “The end? The end of what? I—this isn't the end of anything?” Cullen was silent for a moment. Then, “are you going to tell me what's got you this upset?”

Narvi took a deep, stabilizing breath. “Sorry. It's not rational...I just, I looked at this lake and suddenly remembered something I'd rather not.”

His hands were still on her arms. His brows were knitted with worry as he looked down at her. “Is it something you want to talk about? You don't have to, but if you want to...I'm here for you.”

He had always been there for her, she knew. Cullen had been a constant in her life since the beginning of all this Inquisition business.  _Safe and solid_ . If there was anyone she could talk to, it should be him. She took another deep breath. Maybe it was time to have this out and be really done with it.

“I've never shared with anyone what happened back then...when Solas and I—well, when we split up,” she began tentatively. Cullen's brows knitted tighter, but he remained silent, waited for her to get it all out. “It all happened so quickly. It felt like the blink of an eye between 'I never thought I'd find someone like you' to 'I can't do this anymore'. It took days just to process that that conversation actually really _happened,_ let alone the full weight of what it meant. Don't get me wrong, I've been rejected before, but I've never felt quite that _abandoned_. That's the part that was hardest to get over, and I guess it still hasn't completely left me.

“I know you're not him,” Narvi added, meeting Cullen's eyes with a nervous half-smile. “I know the likelihood of you leading me out here just to do what he did is so small it's almost non-existent. But somehow, the lake and the green hills around it reminded me so strongly of that moment that I actually feared...” she hung her head, ashamed of her own foolishness.

Cullen's arms were around her in a heartbeat. His breath moved in her hair. His heart was racing. He never meant to dredge up these old and painful memories.

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn't have...”

“You couldn't have known. I never told you,” she returned.

That much was true, he conceded. Surely he could not expect himself to know something about her past that she made a point of  _not_ talking about. It still bothered him to see her upset, and no amount of rationalizing its cause could make him feel better about it.

“This lake is beautiful though,” Narvi offered, her attempt at relieving the tension. Satisfied that she had said as much as she was ever going to about a certain past relationship, and that doing so had lifted a sufficient weight from her shoulders, Cullen released her from his bear hug. He retained a hold on her hands, however, and and looked out at the water with her.

“I used to come here often as a child,” he admitted. “I grew up not far from here. My siblings, well, I love them dearly, but they are very loud. This was always a place where I could be alone, find peace in my own thoughts.”

“It does feel peaceful,” she agreed. The water's movement was quiet and gentle, and the breeze light enough that it felt more like a comfortable sigh than a chilling bluster. “I could stand to come out here more often, when we have time.”

Cullen smiled, as much to himself as to her. Sensing that he had one chance to turn the conversation back to his initial purpose, before he lost his nerve or one of Leliana's scouts found them with an 'urgent report', he cleared his throat and steeled himself. “I would like that, too. But you know, there is something I actually wanted to talk to you about, while we're out here.”

Narvi gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, but her words came out in a teasing voice. “Uh-oh, that sounds important.”

“It is,” Cullen agreed. He had adopted a tone more grave than he truly felt; this was one of their little games, and he had gotten good at playing them. “You might want to be sitting down for this.”

Since there was a fallen log nearby anyway, Narvi sauntered over to it. She looked back over her shoulder at him like a cat before turning and perching herself on it. At that angle her eyes looked bigger than normal as she watched Cullen approach. He stopped right in front of her and sank down to one knee.

Narvi gasped. “C-Cullen?” she asked tentatively. Her eyes stung. From where he was kneeling, they looked red around the edges. Was this really happening?

He squared his shoulders and took her hands in his. He tried not to stumble over the words he had prepared. “Narvi of Clan Lavellan...”

She burst into tears and her hands gripped his tighter. It _was_ really happening.

“...radiant sunshine of my life...”

She smiled through her tears and a tremble moved up through her spine.

“...You're the only woman I've ever loved, the only one I want to stand beside for the rest of my life.” He paused and offered her one of his signature sheepish half-smiles. “Whatever comes, my life belongs to you, body and soul.”

Here Cullen faltered and he cast his eyes down. His voice had become more and more strained as he talked; it was like the words in his head and the feelings in his heart were fighting for precedence, and his throat had become the primary battlefield. He swallowed hard and tried to blink back the hot stinging in his own eyes.

“Cullen are you asking me to marry you?” Narvi whispered.

He looked up and met her searching gaze. “I had a speech prepared. It sounded a lot better in my head.” She was shaking her head.

“No, it's perfect.” Narvi removed her hands from his and placed them gently against the sides of his face. She leaned forward, touched her forehead to his and nuzzled his cheekbone affectionately. Cullen's eyes closed and he sighed.

“Let's do it,” she murmured. “The whole thing. Let's get married, let's have a passel of kids, let's grow old and wrinkly and disillusioned with the world together.”

An image came to his mind of the pair of them, old and thin, sitting in rocking chairs, silently knitting and watching the birds. He chuckled at the thought, but had to admit it seemed perfect to him. Then another thought occurred to him and he pulled away a few inches, until he could meet her eyes.

“You—you _want_ kids?” he asked. 

“Of course I do,” she answered simply. “Oh, you thought—? No, that tea I drink keeps me from getting pregnant before I'm ready, but I always wanted to have them _eventually_.”

“And, it doesn't bother you that they'll be human, not elves?” Cullen had observed enough in his years of service to know that when elves and humans had children together, the result was always human, with no visible trace of elven heritage at all. Narvi wasn't, to use Sera's word, the 'elfiest' of elves, but Cullen had no right to override her genetic legacy if it was important to her to preserve it.

As if reading his thoughts on the matter, Narvi shook her head. Her fingers stroked the line of his jaw. “I love you. And I'd rather have human children with you than elven children with anyone else.”

His heart felt like it wanted to leap out of his chest via his throat, but instead he pulled her into him and pressed his lips against hers; gently at first, but with a rapidly mounting sense of urgency the longer he held her against him. She responded to the escalation, as was her wont, by nibbling on his lower lip. That seemed to bring him back to his senses, somewhat, and he broke the kiss off. 

“Is that officially a yes?” he panted into her neck. 

“Officially, definitely a yes,” she answered, her breath hot on his ear.

“Good. Then I finally get to give you this,” Cullen replied, and he began fishing something out of his pocket. He held the ring up between them so it would catch the light.

The band was simple, a twist made of two contrasting metals. One shone brightly even in the poor lighting, a golden hue with a dazzling white sheen that belonged to aurum. The other substance was much darker and had little reflectivity, almost like...

“Is that ironbark?” Narvi asked as she gazed at it in disbelief.

Cullen nodded.

“But, only elves ever work with ironbark...” she turned her stare away from the ring to look Cullen in the eyes, as if they held answers for her.

“Ever since your clan moved into Wycome under the Inquisition's protection, it's been easy to keep in contact with them,” he began. “And your craftmaster has been very cooperative about working with Wycome smiths. They were all most accommodating when I asked them to make this for you. I... I thought if I was going to ask you to spend your life with a human, you should have something to remind you of them, of how much they love you, too.”

Narvi considered the dual bands in the ring. Ironbark represented her and her clan, that much was clear. She remembered then what she knew aurum was  _usually_ used for: plate mail of the highest quality. It was so valuable and strong that it was only used on suits for the highest ranking officers, for templar knight-commanders.

“Cullen.” It didn't take much effort for her to put the two together. “Thank you. I love it.” She allowed him to place the ring on her finger. To her delight, it fit perfectly.

“I'm glad to hear that,” he said as they looked at it shining on her hand. He began fidgeting with his glove. “Because I had them make a set.” The glove fell from his left hand and he revealed a second ring of the same design, already comfortably settled on his finger. They both grinned in near unison.

“Good thinking there,” Narvi said in her teasing voice, even as she threaded her fingers in between his and their rings gently clinked together. “Wouldn't want everyone to think I was engaged to someone else.”

Cullen chuckled. There was no  _real_ possibility anyone could make such a mistake, the way the two of them were always paired together. But he could tell from her tone, and her body language: she thoroughly approved of the matching ring set. Maybe it was because at a glance they seemed to have nothing in common. Now, however small and easily missed of a detail it was, they did.

They stood up and began strolling idly by the shoreline, hand in hand and perfectly content with this moment of their lives.

“I should write to my family about this,” Cullen decided.

“Better do it soon,” Narvi agreed. “Before Josephine sends out the formal announcements. You know if your sister hears about this from anyone but you first she's going to kill both of us.”

“Josephine's so on top of these things, she probably has the announcements sent out already,” he replied in a mock-resigned tone.

“Well let's see: Leliana would have noticed your correspondence with Wycome, so she probably knew the rings were coming,” Narvi reasoned. “And I bet when we went out together, just us, she knew you were going to propose. And since she and Josie are best friends... yes, I'm quite sure Josie knew about this even before we did. She's probably sending out the announcements now.”

“Oh Maker, you're right.” He sounded horrified. “And she will tell _everyone_. She'll invite half of Val Royeaux to the wedding.”

“Half of Val Royeaux, half of Antiva City, the Fereldan and Nevarran courts, all the lords and ladies of the Free Marches. Plus your family and my clan.”

Cullen paled.

“You're marrying the Inquisitor, the Herald of Andraste,” Narvi reminded him. “You were never going to get away with a small wedding. And Cassandra will have me assassinated if she doesn't get to officiate it herself so we'll have to hold it in the Grand Cathedral.”

“We can't just run off into the hills and elope?” he asked, almost whined. “We can bring Cassandra with us to officiate if you want. Wait... Do you even _want_ an Andrastian ceremony?”

“Herald of Andraste,” she repeated. She pointed at herself with her finger as she spoke. “I don't get a choice either way. Besides, as far as I can tell, the elven bonding ceremony isn't really _that_ different from a human wedding, it just names more gods and has fewer references to fire.”

“You can't really be so indifferent about it, can you?”

She shrugged. “I've never been very good at being religious. We invoke the names of our gods sometimes, but... it's never been important to me. It's never felt like it  _should_ be important. If your faith is important to you, and I know it is, then we should go with the Chantry. It just...makes more sense that way.”

Cullen had stopped walking. He pulled Narvi into a tight hug that knocked the wind right out of her. “Anything I can do to make you happy—if you want a proper elven, 'bonding ceremony', was it? You say the word and we'll go to your Keeper and have it done. I'll learn anything I have to say in elvish to make it official if I have to.”

Narvi smiled and a tiny chuckle escaped her. The thought of Cullen, logical straightforward Cullen, trying to wrap his head around the vague, metaphor-laden elven language was too much. Even so, she had no doubt he would do it if he thought it would make her happy. “You've already made me happier than I ever thought possible.”

“That's no reason to stop now, is it?” he countered.

“I suppose not,” she smiled into his chest.

“Good, because I have every intention of continuing to make you happy every day for the rest of your life.”

Knowing how stubborn Cullen was whenever it came to upholding his commitments, Narvi had absolutely no doubt that he would be just as good as his word.

 


End file.
